Press release and News

Equa bank doubled its profit

The bank’s balance sheet exceeded CZK 50 billion at the end of 2017

2017 was Equa bank’s best ever year. Equa bank’s 2017 profit was CZK 232 million, more than double of the 2016 figure. The bank had two- to three-digit growth in each of its business areas. The bank had over 300,000 clients and its balance sheet exceeded CZK 50 billion. The bank anticipates growth to continue in 2018.

“2017 was Equa bank’s best ever year. Behind 2017 PAT, more than a double compared to 2016, there are mainly our appealing current account offer, consumer loan and overdraft account products, sales of which grew by 30% year-on-year. The bank’s long-term successful presence on mortgage loans market and which grew by double digits, also had a positive impact on the bank’s financials. I am also pleased with a dynamic growth of auxiliary services – mainly premium credit cards, travel insurance and loan and card insurance,” said Petr Řehák, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Equa bank.

At the end of 2017, Equa bank’s balance sheet exceeded CZK 50 billion, a 14% y-on-y increase. Total loans increased by 15% to almost CZK 37 billion. Total deposits grew by 13% and reached almost CZK 45 billion at the end of 2017. Equa bank’s net profit grew y-on-y by 167% to CZK 232 million. The bank had 307,000 clients at the end of 2017, which is a 24% increase y-on-y.

“Equa bank’s success is based on its appealing and easy-to-understand portfolio of banking products and services for current clients and on product parameters that clients appreciate long-term. We complement our basic free payment services with easy and transparent fee-based services. We always select our new products and services based on their added value for clients. All of these aspects are reflected in our continually growing client satisfaction rates,” added Petr Řehák.

During 2017 the bank was already able to profit from its quality base of clients that actively use bank’s services and consider it as their main bank. The bank also acquired 60,000 new clients. Equa bank’s clients particularly appreciate our fast, client-friendly consumer loan granting process, personalized approach, appealing current account product and a unique user-friendly mobile banking.

The fact that Equa bank’s current account product is one of the best on the market is confirmed by success in several financial competitions. In 2017 alone the current account product received three awards in prestigious Czech financial competitions. The current account product includes free mobile banking, which was completely redesigned in 2017. This application is one of the best on the market now. Equa bank’s application took third place in AppParade, a popular competition of Czech and Slovak mobile applications. It was the only award-winning application from the banking sector in the competition.

Long-term efficient cost management also played a role in the bank’s excellent results. The bank’s growing size enables it to achieve savings from economies of scale, mainly owing to automated processes, e-tenders and better purchasing prices from external suppliers. The bank’s flat organizational structure, absence of superfluous corporate functions, efficient operations and smart IT infrastructure allow to offer basic payment services for clients free of charge.

Year 2017 was also an exceptional one for Equa bank in that it entered institutional investors market by issuing its first-ever mortgage bonds and subordinated bonds.

“Of course, solid state of the Czech economy, reflected in an improving quality of our loan portfolio contributed to bank’s excellent performance” concluded Petr Řehák, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Equa bank.